Tag-Archive for ◊ Body of Christ ◊

28 Feb 2024 Romans (Program #70)

Romans (Program #70) – Being in the Spirit to Experience the Work of the Spirit

We may have the assurance that we are children of God by the witnessing of the Spirit with our spirit. This is not a method, this is an action of the Spirit.

Today brings us to our 70th and final life study of the book of Romans. It has been quite an examination of one of the classic books of the Christian faith.

What has been the central message of this life study of Romans?  One way to summarize it is with five words: sinners, sons, members, Body and churches. The central thought or message of Romans is that God is making sinners into sons to be the members of the Body of Christ expressed in local churches…

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25 Jan 2024 Romans (Program #36)

Romans (Program #36) – Being Freed from Death (1)

We sinners are not sinners only because we commit some sin. Through the fall of Adam, we all were constituted sinners by being born in sin.

We’re somewhere at the midpoint in our study of Romans. I think it’d be helpful if we reviewed briefly and summarized the central focus of this book that has been dubbed, as we mentioned before, “The Gospel of God”.  This book of Romans is called “The Gospel of God” because it gives us the full gospel including the judicial redemption by Christ’s death and the organic salvation in His resurrection life. The focus of the revelation of this book is that God is making sons out of sinners to form the Body of Christ to express Christ. In this book, we have seen also that God is expressed in the Son, Jesus Christ, and further that the Son is expressed in a Body. We have seen and we will see further that the Body is expressed in the local churches.

That’s “The gospel of God” and Romans, as we’ve indicated, has also been called the fifth gospel.

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01 Oct 2023 Romans (Program #26)

Romans (Program #26) – Transformation in Practicing the Body Life (1)

Our life study of Romans today brings to to chapter 12, a wonderful marvelous chapter in the book of Romans.  The early portions of Romans present us many great spiritual terms; justification, sanctification, glorification to name just a few.  We have seen deeper meanings of these items in the previous programs.  But the presentation that will take place today will begin to show how the process of life that we experience really has a goal related to our practice of life.

The process of life is sanctification and this is actually the process of our being saved in Christ’s life.  He sanctifies us wholly.  This means He adds Himself in His holy nature into our spirit, into our soul, and into our body.  This is the process of life.  more…

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06 Sep 2023 Romans (Program #1)

Romans (Program #1) – A Foreword

Our God is a God of newness and we enjoy Him and apply Him for this new start in the Life-Study series.

Historically, Romans has been presented and studied as one of the great books of Christian doctrine and theology. Certainly we will recognize it in this way and touch these bulwarks of the truth in the weeks ahead, but that will not be our primary emphasis in this Life-Study of Romans. Although we in no way intend to minimize the significance of Romans as a basic book of doctrine and theology – more…

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31 Jul 2023 Acts (Program #36)

Acts (Program #36) – The Propagation in Asia Minor and Europe through the Ministry of Paul’s Company (2)

The Apostle Paul was the vessel chosen by God to carry the New Testament ministry to the non-Jewish world.  He was also ultimately used to pen more than half of the books in the New Testament; from his personal encounter with the resurrected Christ to his full realization of the meaning of the term “Body of Christ”, his life and ministry stand as a great inspiration and example to believers throughout all ages.  We look at the beginning of his ministry on today’s life study of the Bible.

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06 Jul 2023 Acts (Program #11)

Acts (Program #11) – The Propagation in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria through the Ministry of Peter’s Company (7)

It may seem strange to us today, there was a time when the Church was a new thing on the earth. Acts chapter 2 records the initiation of the Church and the lives of the believers at the beginning of the Church age. Stay with us today for an insightful view into the early life of the Church which may shed light on our own current practice of the Church life on today’s life study of the Bible.

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02 Jul 2023 Acts (Program #7)

Acts (Program #7) – The Propagation in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria through the Ministry of Peter’s Company (2)

Acts chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 says,  “And as the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled, they were all together in the same place. And suddenly there was a sound out of heaven, as of a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.”  One of the pivotal events in the history of God’s move on earth occurred on the day of Pentecost. The believers were filled with the Spirit, and the Church, as the body of Christ, was ushered in powerfully.

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12 Mar 2023 Zechariah (Program #15)

Zechariah (Program #15) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (6)

We all have our own favorite verses throughout the Bible. For many of us, some of our favorite verses are found in pages of the Old Testament. And we tend to avoid the Old Testament often in terms of its bigger meaning because it does seem to be somewhat veiled and obscure. However, the real meaning of all of our verses in the Old Testament match that of the revelation in the New Testament. And, that is that at the heart of God’s desire is an economy. In the life study of Zechariah, God’s economy is summarized: “The center of God’s economy is to have a Body to express Christ. Eventually, this Body will be Christ’s Bride to match Him as His counterpart and to come down to earth with Him to carry out the final step of God’s economy. Today, the world situation is ready for His coming, but the Lord has not yet gained His counterpart. Therefore, He has no way to come back. He is still waiting.”

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06 Mar 2023 Zechariah (Program #9)

Zechariah (Program #9) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (1)

About 2500 years ago, the prophet Zechariah’s burden was to help the returned people of Israel to see God’s purpose. Today, God’s intention and His desire is that we will be one with Him. He’s brought us back to the very site, to the ground, even to the foundation of the temple typified by the recovery back to Jerusalem from Babylon in Zechariah’s day. Now God wants us to see that His interest, His desire and His burden are to finish the building of the temple, to build up the Body of Christ.

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04 Mar 2023 Zechariah (Program #7)

Zechariah (Program #7) – The Visions of Consolation and Promise (6)

God cares about His chosen people and God is for His chosen people that through all His judgments He will perfect them and punish those who oppose His people. This is the last program dealing with the eight visions in the book of Zechariah. In chapter 6 we see another vision of God’s judgment on unrighteousness and also His judgment on His people. The judgment on His people is for the purpose of perfecting them so God’s full and eternal purpose may be accomplished. But His judgment on those nations that come against Israel, His people is referred to Israel in this case because we’re talking about the Old Testament prophet Zechariah, but it applies God’s people in every age. God wants to perfect His people so He can accomplish His goal of producing the Body of Christ. But Israel now is under a lot of opposition from a lot of different nations, kingdoms and peoples. So God is judging these people and protecting and perfecting His people in those judgments.

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